Monday, March 06, 2006

At Kurt Vonnegut's - "last speech for money" - Harvey Wasserman noted, "The students are hushed with the prospect of the final appearance of America’s greatest living novelist. Alongside Mark Twain and Ben Franklin, Will Rogers and Joseph Heller and a very short list of immortal satirists and storytellers, there stands Kurt Vonnegut, author of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE and SIRENS OF TITAN, CAT’S CRADLE and GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER, books these students are studying now, as did their parents, as will their children and grandchildren, with a deeply felt mixture of gratitude and awe." In my reading of the text of this appearance, I too felt a similar mixture of gratitude and awe.

At the blog of Joseph Hughes, a writer and designer - Writes in an excellent, and thoughtful, rant, "We've traded our admiration for intelligence for a love of the lowest common denominator. And it should stop as soon as possible, or else our once-great nation's slide toward irrelevance will proceed unabated."

Yesterday, on CBS's "Face The Nation," John Murtha, (D-Rep-PA) stated, "the only people who want us in Iraq is Iran and al-Qaeda. I’ve talked to a top-level commander the other day, it was about two weeks ago, and he said China wants us there also. Why? Because we’re depleting our resources — our troop resources and our fiscal resources." [Video Link] + [Important Related Link]

A environmental Special Report in the March/April 2006 Issue of Mother Jones online magazine - "The Last Days of the Ocean" - The reality perceived, and exposed, is undeniable. An intelligent "teaching" report that should not be passed up.